It's not zero tolerance for me, but it plays a big role in the first impression.
Reshared post from +Jonathon Barton
On the face of it, my zero tolerance approach to grammar errors might seem a little unfair. After all, grammar has nothing to do with job performance, or creativity, or intelligence, right?
Wrong. If it takes someone more than 20 years to notice how to properly use “it’s,” then that’s not a learning curve I’m comfortable with. So, even in this hyper-competitive market, I will pass on a great programmer who cannot write.
I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why.
If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you think a semicolon is a regular colon with an identity crisis, I will not hire you. If you scatter…
Language is a tool for communication, so grammar and spelling are important, but what really pushes my buttons is corporate-speak. Won’t someone just order drone strikes on any miscreant caught blathering about “growing” something that isn’t animal, mineral or vegetable?
It’s funny, @paintedjaguar — the growth (or mutation) of the language in ways that I find jarring or inappropriate has ceased to bother me so much. Though I’ll never accept that “irregardless” means the same as “regardless.”
Zero tolerance? An Oxford comma (or lack thereof) could cost you a job? Harsh.
Well, I think anyone who fires (or doesn't hire) for an Oxford Comma is being self-defeatingly pedantic, since there's a wide array of disagreement on usage. (Being inconsistent about it, or not using it when it would clear up ambiguity is another thing.) But using the wrong "their/they're/there" or "its/it's" is a bit dicier.